Home » Spain » Spain, September 2003 - 4 week trip.

Travel to Spain and Italy, with our last night in France - September 2003. This was a five week trip and we had a great time. We visited many places: Seville, Jaen, Granada, the Costa del Sol and then on to Tuscany, Vineyards, San Gimignano, Siena, Impruneta, Cinque Terre, Monterosso al Mare and a castle in Umbria overlooking Lago Trasimeno and Tuscany.

Spain, September 2003 - 4 week trip.

Jvi
2004-09-14 11:58:51

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seem to mind how much you eat or how fast. Just a few feet south from Bar Geraldo is horse poop plaza so we took a carriage ride. By now it was dark and the ride was very nice. We drove through Maria Luisa Park and the buildings were all lit up, our driver and another man gave us a running commentary and then we saw a weeding party in the park. It cost around 30 Euro, I don't really remember. Back at the plaza we stopped at the Bar Belmonte for another glass of wine and started back to our hotel only to discover that a bar near our hotel that we thought was permanently closed was open and full of people. We stopped in for drink at the bar and I had a ham sandwich, actually several very small tapas sandwiches, thin cuts of ham from one of the hams hanging around the bar. Back to our room.

Saturday, walked to the corner for cafe embasso and toast for breakfast, checked out of our hotel, took a taxi to the train station and found our car rental agency, the Crown Car Hire Office, it was about one block away. Thank heavens for wheeled suitcases. We got a nice VW we had booked through Carjet, the cost was about 20 Euro per day including zero deductible collision coverage. We've used them before, a great deal. We found our way out of Seville and on to Jaen and the Parador where we were going to stay. What a place, way up on a hill overlooking Jaen, it's a very old castle with some newer rooms with great views. The whole complex is on the hill and is about one-half mile long.

We did a lot of walking in Seville and felt very safe. We were quite surprised how few people were out but it was hot and more people came out as it got later. As I mentioned, we walked by this boarded up bar several nights on our way back to the Hotel Simon and the last night we were walking a little later only to find the bar opened and packed. We stopped in and had a glass of wine and I ordered some ham sandwiches which were thinly sliced ham (the hams you see hanging everywhere) on small pieces of bread, open face. They were good. I think you might have a good time if you were "night people". We don't stay out as late as we used to and besides, we were a little jet lagged the first few nights. The carriage ride was worth the 30 Euro. We wlaked over to the Triana area, across the river, but there wasn't much happening. I'm sure we were too early! Our Hotel Simon was very good and in an excellent location one block south of the Cathedral. The Plaza Virgen de los Reyes area is great for Tapas bars. A good idea is to sit down and order the Tapas and share. The park area, Parque Maria Luisa, (the carriage ride went through the park) has many cafes and the prices for wine and water was very reasonable. Look around the streets Avenida de Portugal and Avenida Maria Luisa. If you catch a bus it will probably stop at the Plaza Puerta de Jerez. The circular bus routes are C1, C2 and C3 and they go in small and large circles around Seville so you always get back to the Plaza Puerta de Jerez.

Overall, Seville was much nicer than I anticipated since it is a big city. Additionally, it was friendly and reasonably priced. I would go back again.

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